The Very Group hosts Coram Beanstalk’s BookFest 2023

The Very Group was proud to host Coram Beanstalk’s Bookfest 2023 on Monday 6 November, including a meet and greet with two North West-based authors and children from four primary schools in Liverpool.

The event was part of Very’s partnership with the children’s reading charity, which began in 2019. Over the last four years, the digital retailer has been fundraising to expand Beanstalk’s work to provide one-on-one reading support for children across the UK through its network of schools and volunteer reading partners.

In December 2022, Very hosted a 1980s-themed charity ball which took the amount raised for Beanstalk at that point to £510,000. Very colleagues have undertaken fundraising activities including marathons and skydives, while the retailer has also donated tech bundles to Beanstalk’s partner schools and created product collaborations such as a collection of Roald Dahl x Very pyjamas, for which 30% of sales were donated to the charity.

During BookFest, authors Marie Basting and Mark Powers read extracts from their work, shared their personal stories of becoming writers, held fun quizzes on the Romans and science fiction, and presented every child with a signed book to take home.

Marie Basting said: “Coram Beanstalk does such brilliant work, and I was delighted to be part of their first Liverpool Book Festival. Told by a career advisor that working class girls from Liverpool don't become writers, this was a fantastic opportunity to show Liverpool children they can do anything they want. And where better to start their adventures than inside a book?”

Katie Ventre, events and CSR manager at The Very Group,  added: “We had so much fun welcoming the children, authors and Beanstalk team to our head office in Liverpool for the first-ever BookFest outside of London. We’re proud to support Beanstalk’s mission to ensure every child becomes a reader and it was brilliant to see the magic of reading coming to life first hand.”